The Beauty Chef’s Carla Oates has revolutionised the world of natural skincare
The Bondi local launched her beauty brand in her kitchen. Today, she’s known worldwide and counts supermodels and royals among her fans.
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Beauty and health pioneer Carla Oates is feeling pretty damn fine.
Her line of health and beauty products is everything she’s ever dreamt of come to fruition and, while she’s always been popular in her home country of Australia, today the entire world is starting to take notice.
With the beauty industry worth around $6.5 billion in Australia, and wellness estimated at $4.2 trillion globally, The Beauty Chef is kicking goals — and big ones at that.
Oates started out working solo from her kitchen.
Today she has a full-time staff of 32 at her head office in Sydney’s Double Bay, and employs team members globally, too.
The brand has also committed to supporting a research project at the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney for the next four years, Oates wanting to get involved in both philanthropy and research into the microbiome and gut health at the same time.
“They’re doing lots of amazing research into nutrition and the microbiome,” says Oates.
There’s no more hand mixing potions in her Bondi home either. The Beauty Chef now has its own manufacturing plant, and the range is growing steadily.
Soon it will release an Omega Elixir, an ingestible oil to help dry, irritated skin, and The Beauty Chef skincare will come next year. Investment fund Point King Capital, headed up by Sam McKay and Harvey Carter, have already put $10m into the brand.
The range is much-loved at home, but is also growing internationally and is popular among some of the world’s most famous people, who are snapping it up and then sharing the love on social media.
For example, Glow Beauty Powder is beloved by thousands — including Meghan Markle who caused a run on the product in September when her facialist Sarah Chapman revealed that Markle swears by it.
After word got out that the Duchess of Sussex loves the powdered mix of prebiotics and probiotics saying it gives her skin, hair and nails a healthy “glow”, Oates saw a dramatic boost in sales.
“We saw an increase in sales by 20 per cent on our Australian eCommerce site,” Oates reveals, adding that the data for “Glow Powder” searches after the interview went public, showed an increase of more than half.
Oates is thrilled she has a fan in Meghan — but she’s not about to rest on her laurels. She is a woman with big plans.
“More inner beauty and also international expansion,” says Oates, who’s also author of two Beauty Chef books.
“At the moment we’ve been in the US for a while. We’re in the UK, and now we’re looking into other areas like Canada and Asia.”
Of course, it helps that Oates believes so strongly in her products, all of which aim to improve our gut health and, in turn, our skin.
“I think beauty is wellness and wellness is beauty,” she explains.
“And I always say that if you look after your body you will have an inner beauty that gives your skin a radiance that no amount of cosmetics can really replicate.
“I started really looking into the gut-health, skin, allergy connection when my daughter was a teenager.
“I then started making fermented foods. And people who were eating all of the fermented foods that I was creating noticed that their tummy felt better, their skin was more radiant, they had more energy.
“Fermented food is actually quite cutting edge because we know that it produces a broad spectrum probiotic,” Oates adds.
“It also has postbiotics in there. Inherently, fermented foods have shown to have immune modulating benefits and anti-inflammatories.”
It’s clear she loves the science behind what she’s doing, but this is more than just a hobby or, even, a passion. Oates wants to change the world.
She ensures no products go to market unless they’re absolutely perfect and works with microbiologists, naturopaths, and nutritionists on each formulation.
In fact, she has been a passionate believer in gut health since she was a young girl.
Suffering from eczema, Oates was taken by her mother, the late beauty maven Carolyn, to visit a naturopath. It didn’t take long for her to become convinced of the link between what we eat and how we look.
“As a teenager, I realised that food is medicine and that what you eat can have a profound impact on your skin and the way you feel,” Oates says.
“My uncle, my mum’s brother, was really into macrobiotic cooking, and so I was exposed to that at a young age.”
Even as a teen, Oates was questioning health professionals, keen to understand what was affecting her body.
“Mum used to take me to the doctor when I was a kid, and even though I was little, I used to challenge him on getting antibiotics and things,” she says.
“And he used to laugh at me. He was my doctor well into my late teens, early 20s even, and he would always say, ‘you’re really ahead of your time’.”
Beginning her career in fashion and then beauty, it was when she was working as a beauty editor for the Sunday Telegraph that she really found what she wanted to do.
“I got inundated with products … I was really excited to begin with and then I began reading all of the ingredients. And I thought, ‘I can’t, hand on heart, say these things are great because I don’t believe they are’.
“I really wanted to help educate women on how to look after their skin in a healthier, more holistic, way and look at their overall health and wellbeing. So I quit the newspaper and then I started writing for Wellbeing magazine.
“I wrote a book called Feeding Your Skin, and I had a column in Body + Soul (News Corp’s wellbeing publication) for years.”
Carla stumbled across research that looked for the connection between bacteria in the gut, the microbiome and allergies when daughter, Jeet, now 22, was a teen.
It was the catalyst for production of her own range.
“When I developed the first powder, Glow Inner Beauty Powder, in 2009, people told me it was weird and left of field, because it was such an unusual concept,” she says.
“Back then any idea of an inner beauty product was really unusual.”
When the product finally hit the shelves, Oates — also mum to son, Otis, now 19 — worked from her bedroom.
She and a designer friend created a website and she put all her faith into the business, with her family’s support.
“My mum was always really supportive about me doing what I wanted to do,” says Oates.
“I always had that from her,” she smiles.
“And Davor [Pavlovic – Carla’s husband] has always been really supportive, too.
“He’s always believed in me — even in the beginning when it was really hard. I mean, we didn’t have that much money. He was working full-time as a plumber.
“I was writing freelance, and had a couple thousand dollars to try and start a business. And we used to have boxes of product in our home in Bondi, write labels, pack things …” she laughs.
Carla’s dedication to her brand has not gone unnoticed by her family, Pavlovic in particular, and he is quick to share his praise.
“I’m very proud of her and have witnessed first hand the hard work, dedication, long nights and weekends that have gone into making the business the success it is today,” says Pavlovic. “It’s her passion for creating products that really help people, like our daughter Jeet, that drives her. She built the business from scratch and it’s been incredible to watch her scale it from our home in Bondi to a global brand.”
With nothing but a burning desire to educate people about the benefits of gut health and probiotics, however, it took some time for the business to grow.
It was fellow wellbeing fan Jody Scott, then beauty editor at Vogue Australia, who first featured the powder, and from there, Oates was approached by an agent at TVSN who offered her the chance to sell Glow powder on TV.
“That really helped create education around the product,” she says. “I love the fact that it’s now the number one selling health product on TVSN. And I love that it has helped so many people. People say it was life-changing..”
Did she ever imagine she’d be so successful or that her product would be considered mainstream?
“I really knew early on that I was on to something,” she says, matter-of-factly.
“Because it works. It actually is real, and in many ways it’s common sense. I knew it was going to take a while. But I’ve never wavered. I’ve always been very driven. And I believed.”